Q+A Madness - January 2018

Thought I would spend the afternoon answering any questions you may have about Starmourn! Feel free to post up comments and questions below and I'll do my best to answer them!

I'm sure the #1 question on your mind is "When are we opening?" - Soon! Most of our for-launch mechanical systems are all coded up now, but there's still a lot of content still to create before we'll be ready to launch. So when we're comfortable with how everything is looking, we'll start getting people in to play!

I doubt there will be any massive-scale events right after opening, mainly because we'll be very busy with tweaking and fixing things, but the lore is such that there's a lot of avenues to pursue, and we're always receptive to player-led RP!

I don't remember if this was asked or answered, but will there be Guides established before or soon after release? I was a Guide in Achaea for several years and i'd be interested in doing it again if the opportunity came about.

I don't remember if this was asked or answered, but will there be Guides established before or soon after release? I was a Guide in Achaea for several years and i'd be interested in doing it again if the opportunity came about.

Are there going to be more city-type orgs eventually, or just the three? Sorry if this has been asked already. I find myself musing about how different relationships may be formed or how they will work out, such as Song vs Ascendancy, or law vs crime.

Are there going to be more city-type orgs eventually, or just the three? Sorry if this has been asked already. I find myself musing about how different relationships may be formed or how they will work out, such as Song vs Ascendancy, or law vs crime.

No plans, but if the situation calls for it, I'm sure we would add more!

Aside from civilizations, will there be other organizations of some sort that players can join? If so, will such be available from the start or will it come later on?

There will be player clans, which are generally free-form organisations that could range from a family group, to a drug smuggling ring, to a trade federation. We've got some more ideas for an additional organisation type that is a little more conflict-oriented, but we'll see if that makes it for launch!

What keeps me from flying out into the vastness of space never to be seen or heard from again??

More seriously, how good are my navigation systems gonna be?

Not all sectors/zones will be able to be traversed at launch, since that kinda limits future expansion - "hey, I flew through here last week and there wasn't a planet here", so you'll eventually hit a giant space nebula of pain when you reach something that's not available yet.

Navigating known space is pretty easy though, you'll generally be able to see what's around you, and if you're so inclined, autopilot to get there.

What keeps me from flying out into the vastness of space never to be seen or heard from again??

More seriously, how good are my navigation systems gonna be?

Not all sectors/zones will be able to be traversed at launch, since that kinda limits future expansion - "hey, I flew through here last week and there wasn't a planet here", so you'll eventually hit a giant space nebula of pain when you reach something that's not available yet.

Navigating known space is pretty easy though, you'll generally be able to see what's around you, and if you're so inclined, autopilot to get there.

What keeps me from flying out into the vastness of space never to be seen or heard from again??

More seriously, how good are my navigation systems gonna be?

Not all sectors/zones will be able to be traversed at launch, since that kinda limits future expansion - "hey, I flew through here last week and there wasn't a planet here", so you'll eventually hit a giant space nebula of pain when you reach something that's not available yet.

Navigating known space is pretty easy though, you'll generally be able to see what's around you, and if you're so inclined, autopilot to get there.

Kinda like Chops in Achaea?

Mechanically similar to the chop walls that block passage to unreleased areas, yep!

Do you think that all the classes are equally balanced? Will there be a lot of crowd control abilities in engineer? Will your vitals depend on your level, class and race or will you be able to increase it with runes?

Do you think that all the classes are equally balanced? Will there be a lot of crowd control abilities in engineer? Will your vitals depend on your level, class and race or will you be able to increase it with runes?

Theoretically, roughly balanced in terms of features. Combat itself as balanced, hard to say, lots of people come up with innovative strategies that can tip the scales dramatically. There will be a lot of adjustments over time.

You will have investible stat points, that are a product of your level, which is the main contribution to your various vitals and stats.

It's been a while, so I may have already forgotten these answers, but:

1. Will the BEAST eventually have different 'weighted' mech suits?I've been watching a fair bit of Anthem stuff, so to summarize what I mean, will there be a Light, Medium, and Heavy BEAST? Sort of like.. Weaponmastery in Achaea. (probably something in the far flung future, at best)

2. Will combat be focused in a single room, despite props and elevation (barring relocation and other tactical stuff like that)? Or will there be a fair bit of ranged stuff too (room-to-room combat)

1. BEASTs might eventually have different weighted suits. I mean, I'd love to do that, and it's a natural thing to do, but I don't know how we'll end up prioritizing something like that vs the billion other possibilities for cool stuff.

2, Combat's focused in a single room. There are ranged options, but they can just never really be dominant in a traditional room-by-room system. It's the nature of MUDs. It's really hard, in that kind of system, to provide an overview of the stuff around you (not just in your room) in a quick way that makes sense, especially when most MUD rooms have arbitrary exits, vs exits in all directions (even if some are blocked by walls or trees or cliffs or whatever).

Also, in Starmourn, unlike other our other MUDs, combat is an explicit state, which gives us the ability to alter things like movement speeds when you're officially 'in combat.'

What are some of the biggest 'lessons learned' from the other IRE muds over the years?

Which of.the IRE muds (possibly at particular points in time) do you think had the best pvp rules and/or methods of managing issues? (Achaea circa 1999 where there basically weren't any is not a valid answer... even though it kinda was the best).

What are some of the biggest 'lessons learned' from the other IRE muds over the years?

Which of.the IRE muds (possibly at particular points in time) do you think had the best pvp rules and/or methods of managing issues? (Achaea circa 1999 where there basically weren't any is not a valid answer... even though it kinda was the best).

GMCP will be in on day one, yep!

Lessons learned... hrrm, tough one. Segregating and dividing people up into small pockets is probably a big one - you want your game to feel alive and thriving, which doesn't happen when people are spread too thin.

The current trend in Achaea seems to be going pretty well, with the RP PVP mindset (which is similar to some of the other games)